The scope of available possibilities seems endless when we bring our emotionally literate selves to a situation. So many of our personal journeys and even our country and world journeys could potentially be different if we understood our emotions and the actions and behaviours that those emotions bias us towards.

Some very real examples of our emotions leading us forward into taking actions without awareness are the responses on social media with regard to the Australian bush fires and the US Impeachment process. Both of these issues are issues that bring with them passion and strong commitment to views that are at very opposite ends of the scale: People either think that the Australian Prime Minister is to blame for the bush fires or they don’t. Similarly, people either think that the USA Impeachment is a necessity or it isn’t.

It is understandable that people will have differing views, and I think it is great that we live in a society where we can do so. However, as I read through the many comments about both the bush fires and the impeachment on social media, I can’t help feeling that we are developing into a society of people who “play the person and not the ball”:

• It is one thing to have an opinion on the bush fires. It is a completely different thing to start judging the prime minister on what started as a post of condolences on the loss of his father.
• It is one thing to have an opinion on the USA impeachment. It is a very different thing to call key players (regardless of their loyalties) hurtful names that have the potential to damage their reputation.

What are the emotions that sit behind these behaviours? What are the emotions that lead us to declaring actual people as free game rather than focusing our judgements on actions and processes?

These are the questions that have led to my current reflection on emotional literacy.

I have written a blog post on my leadership blog about Emotional Literacy. If you think it might be of interest, feel free to click on the below and take a look:

Emotional Literacy – A Blog Post

My passion lies in coaching people to become the most resourceful version of themselves, and helping new and upcoming leaders who may be struggling with everyday life as a leader. I believe that the ability to be whatever we want to be lies within each of us, and sometimes it is useful to have help in finding what and where that is.

Image by Alexandra Haynak from Pixabay